The present specification generally relates to methods for characterizing operations of objects and, more specifically, to methods for characterizing in vivo operations of dental prosthesis.
Dental prosthesis such as, for example, dentures can be worn within the oral cavity of users to replace missing teeth. The dentures can be supported within the oral cavity by topography formed by soft and hard tissues of the oral cavity. Due to geometrical differences between users, expert care may be required to form the dentures to match the oral cavity in order to promote support, stability, and retention. However, even with expert care, a properly fitted denture still may experience periods of reduced support, stability, and retention during typical use like chewing or talking. Denture adhesive can be utilized to improve the support, stability, and retention of the dentures.
Measuring the efficacy of the dentures, the denture adhesive, or both during typical use can be a difficult task. Known measurement techniques can be complicated due to the intrusive nature of working with the oral cavity of the users. Moreover, known measurement techniques have relied upon external rigging that can create inertial artifacts within the measurement data. Alternative techniques have relied upon detectors that fail to produce data sufficient to characterize the dentures during typical use. Moreover, the efficacy of anecdotal data from users can be reduced due to the varied experience of each user and the prevalence of improperly fitting dentures.
Accordingly, a need exists for alternative methods for characterizing in vivo operations of dental prosthesis.